On Community...

"It is through the weak that power is displayed. It is through the vulnerability, that true lasting security is gained. It is through being utterly dependent on others, that a true community is created." -Makoto Fujimura

What is it that binds us together as a world? Is it our greatness, our power, and our success? Or is it the fact that we all need each other and are interdependent, pointing to the very fact that humans alone don't have what it takes to sustain themselves.

We are a needy people. America is needy-we have amassed great wealth and power and yet the looks in our eyes display a deep-set desire for something more... TV screens around the country often blare a message of self-reliance and individualism: "All you really need to do is buy this product and you'll feel better about yourself," "Find the right guy/girl and you'll be happy forever." Reality tells us a different story. After you buy the product that makes you feel great about yourself for a few days, you end up feeling exactly the same way you did before-still wanting more. People settle into relationships with the opposite sex thinking that another person can make their world complete; but the reality is that relationships are hard and they take a lot of work-a real sustainable relationship takes sacrifice, commitment, and time.

In America, all of the stuff that surrounds us often blurs our vision for our great need as human beings. Around the world people in developing nations scrounge dumps for food or something to sell for money. Women in Africa are infected with AIDS by men who come claiming to provide help and security, or men who simply storm down their doors...then they don't realize they're infected until things get pretty bad and, perhaps, they've infected others. Children in India are forced to labor under extremely terrible working conditions for little to no income. Countless Mexican families suffer the results of violent drug-related crime. And poor fathers in Mexico wonder how to provide for their families without getting involved in the drug trade. The harsh reality of these situations often misses the average American television set or social studies book. We talk to high schoolers about the horror of Hirsoshima-but only for a few minutes, it's really all we can take...the slave trade-it was terrible, horrible, but we're "better now..." we have integrated schools and "mixed" communities. We live padded lives, where the grocery store is right around the corner, clean water flows out of a big hole in the kitchen in great abundance, and the government actually responds to the voice of the people. What luxury, but also what poverty! As I think about terrible situations around the world, I think about how realizing our incapacities can help us develop a richer sense of being and community. In recognizing our neediness, and the fact that we have flaws and shortcomings, we realize that we are impoverished people who have a need for something more than what our natural states provide.

The man who stands on the corner with a broken leg often has a story that we as Americans, as citizens of the world, need to hear: that we are a broken people in need of repair. We're often too busy, however, to listen. If we will stop and listen and really hear the message that all of creation is crying out, though, we will become more in touch with ourselves and each other. The message is: this world is broken, but there is hope. Come with me and explore what hope can look like as we love one another genuinely, and seek the good of others instead of harm...as we look beyond ourselves for life, fulfillment, and joy.